Religion in World History-Introduction

I think its important to keep in mind that this unit is all about religion in world history, NOT a study of specific religious beliefs. As such, its really important to keep in mind the theme of the unit, which is...

"Religion: The way people construct reality."

This issue of constructing reality is what makes religion so important to world history. Saying that religion is a set of beliefs diminishes the impact that religion has on people. Religion is the basis on which people create their entire worldview. For example (I used this example in period A)...

If I were holding a pencil above a desk and thinking about dropping it, before I did so, I would KNOW what was going to happen. The pencil would fall out of my hand, hit the desk, and make a noise. Even before I did that, I would be sure in my mind that this is what was going to happen. This is not a "belief," its a known fact. If I dropped the pencil and it somehow became suspended in mid-air, my entire world view would be shattered. It would be the craziest thing to ever happen to me. They would write bad movies about this "phenomenon." That is how sure we are of gravity.

For the majority of human history, people were as certain about religion as I am about what will happen when I drop a pencil. It was simply truth that we can take for granted-there are no other options. As such, this is why they believed the sun came up in the morning, why good things (and bad things) happened, and why they should live the life they lived. It is an essential part of world history, because it formed the basis on which so many people did what they did.

But here's the weird thing-I know the pencil will fall because I've seen it happen time and time again. There weren't a bunch of people who got together 2,000 years ago and decided "when you drop a pencil, it will make a noise." But that IS what happened in many religions. What people take for granted as religious truth is the compiled decisions of humans throughout the previous 5,000 years. So what does this mean? It means that religion, over time, means very different things for different people, even people who are in the same religion. A Christian living in 500 AD had a VERY different idea of what the rules of their faith were when compared to a Christian in 2007. Religion is an ever-evolving process that both shapes and is shaped by human beings. Now that's reality.